Lights
by MrsEm
Summary: James T Kirk walked down one of the many corridors of his ship, it was early morning and as a huge yawn plastered his face he stopped and brought his cup of coffee up to his lips, sipping the hot liquid and widening his eyes in an attempt to wake up. Looking up at the ceiling he noticed the lights change ever so slightly, which got him thinking. Who was in charge of the lights?


James T Kirk walked down one of the many corridors of his ship, it was early morning and as a huge yawn plastered his face he stopped and brought his cup of coffee up to his lips, sipping the hot liquid and widening his eyes in an attempt to wake up. Throwing his head back he gargled the coffee and then shook his head like a dog that had just jumped in a lake, his slack jaw making a slapping sound as he did. He'd never noticed it before but as he stood there wondering when he'd ever get a full night's sleep again he noticed the tiny increment in light that appeared from the fascia's of the walls.

Lights, beams, lamps, floor lamps, table lamps, bedside lamps, desk lamps, up lights, spotlights… All over the ship, from the Bridge and Engineering to Crew's quarters and corridors, lights dimmed and lightened in an attempt to replicate day and night. The only windows on board displayed the vast darkness of space, a faraway planet, a storm or enemy ship and humans and other species alike needed light, amongst other things, not a constant reminder of their precarious whereabouts. Other than the time, which could wane and wax given what quadrant they were travelling through or what planet they were visiting, the lights on board the Enterprise kept 'everyday' on track, they kept the crew from going crazy!

Putting people in a tin can in space was a recipe for disaster, in the early years of space travel, around two hundred and fifty years ago, they would put their folk in isolation tanks for seventeen months at a time, just to prep them for missions. It was known that increased human performance errors were due to sleep loss, fatigue, work overload and circadian desynchronisation. Poor team cohesion and performance was the result of inadequate preparation, poor selection and team composition, insufficient training and reduced psychosocial adaption made it all worse. In short, it was a mess!

Two hundred and fifty years later and everything that surrounded Kirk in that corridor was designed to stop all that from happening, plus the fact that Humans had been pottering around space for so long they'd kind of got used to it. Not as much bickering, not as many fights. Not to mention the food was a lot better!

Walking onto the Bridge Kirk took his seat, noticing that in the short time it took him to get there the lights had become ever so slightly brighter, it was early morning and Kirk felt himself waking up some more.

"Spock?" he shouted over his shoulder.

"Yes Captain?"

"Who's in charge of all this?" he asked, waving his hand around him.

"Captain?" Spock asked, inclining his head and raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

"The lights Spock, who is in charge of the lights?" he asked, craning his neck round to look at the Vulcan.

"That would be the Head of Ship Management Captain," he answered after a pause. Kirk nodded his head slowly, turning back in his chair he threw his head back quickly.

"And that would be…?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Commander Yannetta Captain," Spock answered.

"Of course," Kirk nodded his head even more. "Yannetta yes, of course." Clicking his fingers as if the name had just slipped his mind Kirk thanked his First Officer and took another sip of his now cold coffee.

Who the hell was Commander Yannetta?

* * *

"What's this about Jim?" Bones characteristically barked as he walked beside Kirk briskly.

"Bones…" Kirk rolled his eyes, you'd think his CMO would be happy that his friend had dragged him out of work to go found this Yannetta character but no! He has to whinge about it the entire time and ruin his perfectly good day by being a miserable…

"I'm not in the mood, I have a sick bay to run!" unaware of Kirk's internal monologue McCoy rolled his own eyes right back.

"I want to find this Commander Yannetta, I don't think we've ever met?"

"You've met Jim, plenty of times." McCoy was losing what little patience he had left. "You know we've been on this godforsaken ship for two years, I would have thought by now that you would know your crew?"

"I'm not good with names Bones," Kirk defended himself. The irony not lost on either of them.

"Then look her up on the crew manifest, which you have access to, in your office." McCoy had met one cell organisms smarter than Jim Kirk.

"Where's the fun in that?" Kirk slapped McCoy's chest with the back of his hand as they walked.

"That's your first problem right there Jim, this need to find fun where there isn't any. None of this is fun." McCoy wondered if it was socially acceptable to have a drink at breakfast time and then remembered he didn't give a rat's ass what was socially acceptable.

"Have we met?" Pulling a face Kirk continued to lead the way.

"Why am I here Jim?" McCoy asked just wanting him to cut to the chase.

"You know her Bones, you can introduce us!" McCoy came to a grinding halt.

"Are you out of your goddamn mind?! One, this isn't some Southern Ball where you need to be introduced to a Lady and two, you're the Captain. You think you need introducing?" He'd heard it all now! Kirk slapped him on the shoulder and carried on walking.

"Come on, give me a heads up, what she like?"

"Competent," came McCoy's one word reply. Kirk made a gesture with his hands that denoted he wished his beloved friend to expand on his description. "I like her," he added after a pause.

"You like her Bones?!" Kirk mimicked.

"Go to hell Jim," McCoy turned on his heel and started making his way back.

"Ahh come on Bones!" Kirk knew he'd pushed it too far but McCoy just carried on walking. "I have a bottle of Romulan Ale in my quarters with your name on it."

Hook.

Line.

"Damnit man, I'm a Doctor not a Chaperone!"

Sinker.

The two men continued on their way until they reached Commander Yannetta's office.

"She knows her stuff," McCoy said.

"I know my stuff!" Kirk replied as he rang the doorbell. When the door swished open the two men entered seeing a woman sat behind a large desk.

"Leonard, good to see you. What brings you to this neck of the woods?" Kirk watched the pair smile at one another and instantly felt out of place. "Captain? To what do I owe this pleasure?" she added a moment later, turning her attention to him and he found himself actually gulping.

"Good to see you Dot, Jim here has some questions about the lights." Kirk rolled his eyes at his friend's introduction and tried to put on his best '_Captain_' face.

"What do you want to know Captain?" she asked him coolly and Kirk already knew he was out of his depth. It had definitely been worth the trip!

Dorothy 'Dot' Yannetta had met Captain Kirk at the beginning of their five year mission, he'd been brash and arrogant and all but ignored her. That was fine, she didn't have time to converse with Starfleet Officers who thought the world revolved around them. Having said that, working on board the Enterprise was a career highlight for Dot, she'd worked for the United Federation of Planets for most of her career so when she'd taken up a position in Starfleet they'd given her a rank, a pretty high one at that, they were obsessed with ranks! It meant nothing to Dot, other than the slight perk of people knew right away that they had to do what she told them to. Her input into the fleet ship design had been hailed as ground breaking and having the opportunity to manage the foremost, prominent ship of all of Starfleet was a personal aspiration of hers. The fact that she'd been left to it by the Captain, well that was the cherry on the cake. Until now it seemed.

"Commander Yannetta?" Kirk addressed her and she nodded in response. "You're responsible for the replicators as well aren't you?" It was a cheap shot, condescending and ill-mannered but Dot didn't rise to it.

"Amongst other things," she replied casually.

"Forgive me Ms Yannetta, what else do you do? I don't think you've ever attended one of my meetings so forgive me if I'm not fully abreast with your duties." McCoy looked at Kirk frustrated, surprised by the fact that his friend was being especially discourteous to the woman sat opposite him. He knew this had been a bad idea.

"My 'duties' Sir? I'm in charge of strategic transformation, tactical planning, services required to meet the operational requirements of all the functions on board. Emergency response, full ownership and oversight of the ship… Captain." Punctuating every letter of the word Dot didn't look away from Kirk. "In a nutshell," she added sweetly.

"So like, the restaurants and stuff?" Kirk made the joke but it fell flat, turning to McCoy for backup but just receiving a look of pity. "Impressive Commander Yannetta," he said, trying another tact. "I have no idea what any of that means!" he told her, laughing and hoping he'd get at least McCoy on his side now that he was being pleasant.

"Lucky for us I do Sir," Dot replied, not missing a beat and McCoy had to stifle the laugh building in his gut.

"The lights!" Kirk suddenly said, remembering why he'd wanted to seek her out in the first place. Dot found herself smiling, his keenness infuriatingly infectious. "Turning everywhere from day to night, I like that." He told her.

"Good, you're supposed to Captain. All of it, from the restaurants, open spaces, social distractions, it's all designed to make sure…"

"We don't go insane," McCoy interrupted.

"We find working on board a Starship as pleasant an experience as possible." Dot added, giving McCoy one of those looks that told him to be quiet.

Leonard McCoy knew Dot Yannetta quite well, they'd worked together successfully for the first two years of their mission. People meetings, crew welfare, facilities and medical worked closely to ensure a safe environment for all on board. Conversely, James Kirk did not know Dot Yannetta but boy was he interested! Dot Yannetta took it all in her stride, as she always did. McCoy had never met a more confident individual, which he'd mistaken for arrogance when they first met. Not due to her character because she seemed to have an endless abundance of patience (as shown in their present situation), but more because he had deemed it so and therefore must be true (ironically an arrogance of his own). She was curt at times and didn't suffer fools gladly (again, expertly shown right about now) but that didn't deter McCoy, in fact he quite enjoyed it. Seeing his friend and colleague come up against one another was highly entertaining, given his knowledge of both individuals and McCoy had to stop himself from smirking at the looks both of them were giving the other.

Kirk's comm badge buzzed and he pressed it quickly, glad of the interruption.

"Yes Scotty?"

"Sir, the transporters are back up and running."

"Glad to hear it, good work." Kirk ended the comm and gave a sweet smile to Yannetta.

"Don't know why anybody would use the damned things in the first place?!" McCoy muttered under his breath.

"Come on Bones, it's completely safe!" Kirk laughed giving Yannetta a look as if his CMO was crazy.

"The hell it is," Bones replied.

"The transporter breaks down each and every one of your atoms and then reassembles them on the other side. That's how the replicators work," Dot indicated to the replicator on the wall and Kirk stood transfixed as she peered up at him confidently. "The replicators, well, they have instructions about how your coffee is put together Captain and places the atoms in the right order to create it. It's a copy, the original cup of coffee that the instructions came from has gone. Does that make sense?" Kirk found himself nodding away mutely. "The same applies to every time you're beamed anywhere Captain, it's a copy. The original is dead." Kirk stared at Yannetta who looked at him as if she'd just explained how shoes work.

"My God!" McCoy exclaimed, looking aghast at Yannetta.

"Next time take the stairs," Dot said as she looked at McCoy with a sly grin. The three of them stood in silence until Kirk cleared his throat.

"Well, let me know if there's anything I can do to help Ms… Commander Yannetta." Kirk told her.

"Thank you Captain, I'll let you know." Dot replied, her dark brown eyes staring him down. Kirk was supremely interested now, her afore mentioned brown eyes, dark skin and brown short hair that fell back from years of stressed fingers being run through it from the front to the back. It all left some people doing a double take as she passed by. Kirk thought she was striking. "There is a few things I wanted to discuss with you Captain, but I think it would be better that we discuss them offline if that's alright." He had no idea what she was talking about.

"That's my cue to leave, see you soon Dot." Waving his hand McCoy left without another look at Jim.

"Sure, yeah, of course." He found himself saying.

"Tomorrow, twenty hundred hours?" Dot asked him frankly.

"Err sure, yeah, of course." Dot smiled as he made his way towards the door. "Thank you for looking after my Ship Commander Yannetta!" Kirk found himself shouting just before he left.

"Your ship Captain?" she asked letting the door close behind him. Kirk stared at the door.

"Maybe not?"

**The End**


End file.
